Recently Apple announced Passbook, a new mobile wallet that will debut in iOS. Its existence prompted speculation that future iPhones will include NFC—and now 9to5mac is reporting that new iPhone prototypes feature the technology.

If Apple follows its usual release patterns, then we won't see an actual iPhone 5 until October. Will it feature NFC? Maybe, maybe not. But you can be sure that, if it does, Apple's take on mobile payment could be enough to force the concept into the mainstream. [9to5mac]